Tuesday, July 28, 2015

The Oregon knows how to ballyhoo

Here are two terrific newspaper ads for Houdini's Terror Island at the Oregon Theater in July 1920. While the official Terror Island pressbook would provide basic ad images, it was largely up to theaters to come up with their own ad copy. As you can see, the Oregon goes all out in this regard. My favorite line: "It won't be necessary to drink the evening cup of coffee. SEE HOUDINI."

Morning Register, July 27, 1920.

Morning Register, July 25, 1920.

Later this week I'll share some more Terror Island newspaper ads that go their own curious ways.

2 comments:

You gotta love these. While I have seen Terror Island ads listing the stars Houdini and Lila Lee, I believe that may be the first Terror Island Ad that includes Eugene Pallette as a star. He played Guy Mordaunt. Can’t wait to see more.